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A comment on Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers. Parent comment

Re:Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive C... by abalone on Monday January 27, 2014 @04:12PM (#7133265)
There's one more factor: driving speed. To get more energy efficiency on long trips, it often makes sense to drive the model s around 50-55mph rather than 65+. So if you average 10mph slower over 2800 miles, that's an additional 8 hours of driving time on top of the charging time.

See comments here for a recent cross-country trip. Where the driver notes his average speed it's around 50-55mph. http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/heading-cross-countr...

(Also of note: planning around cold weather seems to be a significant consideration.)

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Re:Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive C... by Retric on Monday January 27, 2014 @05:10PM (#7133673)
I don't think that's accurate when your using supercharging stations. Electricity costs far less than gas so if your adding more time than you save by refueling less it's basically pointless unless your could get to a much further charging station. However, there way to far apart for that to be practical so your stopping in the same locations if your doing 55 or 75.
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Re:Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive C... by latj on Monday January 27, 2014 @04:38PM (#7133433)
There's one more factor: Dont I have to do a mandatory roundtrip so that I can return the individual batteries to Tesla? Thats the way their battery swap program works at the moment.
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Re:Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive C... by ceph_ on Monday January 27, 2014 @04:47PM (#7133493)
The article isn't about their battery swap program. Its about their fast charge network.
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Re:Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive C... by latj on Wednesday January 29, 2014 @02:21PM (#7146088)
Oops, I totally missed that part. It sounds more realistic now.
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Re:Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive C... by boucher on Monday January 27, 2014 @04:44PM (#7133468)
The battery swap is not the 30 minute charge time, it's an actual charge of your own battery (the swap is a lot faster than 30 minutes). I don't think battery swap is currently available at these charge locations?
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Re:Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive C... by secabeen on Monday January 27, 2014 @05:50PM (#7133961)
Correct. There are no battery swap stations in service anywhere at the present time.
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Re:Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive C... by ajcarpy2005 on Monday January 27, 2014 @10:31PM (#7135145)
Speculative: if Elon Musk's hyperloop vision happens, batteries could be loaded into pods and shipped most of their journey that way.
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